ARCHIVED - First news of the financial terms of the Aena bid for Corvera airport appears positive

An end to the long-running saga of Corvera airport could be in sight at last

The evaluation of the financial side of Aena’s bid for the new management of Corvera airport appears to have got off to a positive start on Thursday, when Pedro Rivera, the minister for Development and Infrastructures in the regional government, reported that the terms stipulated by the company represent “a considerable improvement” on the minimums established at the outset of the tender process.

One of the key elements of the financial offer which was opened for scrutiny on Thursday is the tariff to be paid by Aena to the regional government per passenger, and it is in this respect that the bid exceeds the minimum stipulated in the tender terms. The government established a minimum of 73 cents per traveller, but Aena’s offer is 84 cents for the first ten years, and similar increments are applied for the rest of the 25-year term of the contract.

The bid also specifies that these amounts will be paid to the government once the figure of a million passengers per year has been reached, and that it will be calculated on the basis of all passengers, not only those above a certain threshold.

However, the document opened on Thursday is a lengthy and complicated one, and although these are some of the key elements highlighted by Sr Rivera it will take some time for it to be analysed in detail before a final decision is made.

If all is pronounced satisfactory it appears that the long-running saga of the airport in Corvera could finally be nearing its conclusion: the airport was first mooted approximately 20 years ago, and was not actually built by the regional government but by the privately owned consortium Aeromur. However, when Aeromur failed to open it within the timescale stipulated after construction was completed in 2012, the government rescinded the original management contract and took on responsibility for the facility, and after lengthy legal disputes is now, it seems, on the verge of contracting the services of Aena in order to make a success of it.

The signs are that assuming Aena do take over at Corvera this will mean a gradual transfer of services from San Javier to the new airport, although more details of how this is to be approached will doubtless become clear over the next few months.